A joint European mass storage specification effort

In September 1993, a workshop on mass storage requirements was held at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) with the objective of discussing, and hopefully finding a common approach to, the problems facing large-scale scientific data processing sites in Europe and elsewhere. The outcome of the workshop was a cooperative venture to develop a specification for a mass storage system that could meet, or come close to meeting, the needs of most of the sites represented in the working group. The hope was to demonstrate a common direction and a common set of interests in the group, thus influencing developers and suppliers of large mass storage systems to align their offerings more closely with the group´s needs. By allowing free access to the specification itself, we hope to provide a valuable resource for those who write requests for proposals (RFPs) in the area of mass storage systems. This effort is still in its early stages. The eventual results are intended to be of use to both installations and suppliers, resulting in a better outcome for all those working in large mass storage systems in scientific environments